{"id":71556,"date":"2025-12-04T21:04:06","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T21:04:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/71556\/"},"modified":"2025-12-04T21:04:06","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T21:04:06","slug":"scam-alert-pinellas-county-deputies-issue-warning-about-fake-qr-codes-on-parking-signs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/71556\/","title":{"rendered":"Scam alert: Pinellas County deputies issue warning about fake QR codes on parking signs"},"content":{"rendered":"

PCSO explains that scammers are creating stickers of their own QR code and placing them on top of the actual QR code you would scan to park.<\/p>\n

PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. \u2014 If you’ve paid for public parking around Pinellas County, you’ve likely scanned a QR code to pay for your spot.<\/p>\n

However, you’ll want to be careful and double-check what you’re scanning, as the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office says it’s noticed some QR codes at parking spots linked to scammers.<\/p>\n

In a video example<\/a>, PCSO explains that scammers are creating stickers of their own QR code and placing them on top of the actual QR code you would scan to park.<\/p>\n

The scammer’s code will take you to a different website where they will take your personal info, such as your debit or credit card. Additionally, this leaves your actual parking fee unpaid, which could lead to other consequences.<\/p>\n

“They hope you won’t question whether it took you to the correct site and just enter your card info,” a deputy said.<\/p>\n


\nHow to protect myself from QR code scams <\/p>\n

PCSO recommends looking really closely at the QR code you are about to scan to make sure there is no sticker placed on top.<\/p>\n

However, if you do happen to scan one, here are things you can look for to make sure you’re on the correct website:<\/p>\n

Bad grammarMisspelled wordsIncorrect URLsShoddy design\u00a0 <\/p>\n

Additionally, to avoid possibly scanning a scam QR code, you can use the parking meter’s specific mobile app to pay the correct fee from your phone, such as ParkMobile<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“We aren’t saying never scan a QR code, we’re just saying double-check that it isn’t a sticker first,” the deputy explained.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PCSO explains that scammers are creating stickers of their own QR code and placing them on top of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":71557,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-71556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71556"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71556\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}